Revolutionary Artshttps://revolutionaryarts.wordpress.com
making projects for people and places since 2000Sun, 11 Mar 2018 04:26:15 +0000enhourly1http://wordpress.com/https://s2.wp.com/i/buttonw-com.pngRevolutionary Artshttps://revolutionaryarts.wordpress.com
Margate; where art and windfarms come togetherhttps://revolutionaryarts.wordpress.com/2014/12/24/margate-where-art-and-windfarms-come-together/
https://revolutionaryarts.wordpress.com/2014/12/24/margate-where-art-and-windfarms-come-together/#commentsWed, 24 Dec 2014 16:15:59 +0000http://revolutionaryarts.wordpress.com/?p=364Here’s an interesting view of Margate, which takes in two things that we love here at Revolutionary Arts HQ – art and green energy. Which one can save a seaside town?

It was a tricky proposition for struggling seaside town Margate.

The rise in cheap foreign package holidays, local employers facing a precarious future and the decline of attractions such as amusement park Dreamland meant the resort was on its knees. A long-promised contemporary art gallery was so mired in political wrangling that many locals were convinced it would never be built.

What Margate had left – virtually all it had left – was its beaches and seascape, including skies that artist JMW Turner described as ‘the loveliest in all Europe’.

So when a plan was hatched to build the world’s third largest offshore wind farm slap bang in the middle of this view, there was, understandably, uproar.

There was a special irony in the fact that the promised art gallery was to capitalise on that very link with the admiring Turner and market that same seascape as Margate’s crown jewel.

Opposition to wind farms in the British landscape has been often been vicious, with nay-sayers arguing that the benefits of clean energy are outweighed by the blot on our historic landscapes. The National Trust for Scotland has just this month put its weight behind a campaign against a 67-turbine project in the Monadhliath mountains.

Elsewhere, the seascape is considered just as precious – developers have scaled back plans for a giant offshore wind farm off Worthing, following protests. East Kent’s opponents to the Thanet Wind Farm argued that Margate’s one remaining asset was about to be sold off to big business.

But the Thanet Wind Farm went ahead and today, four years after it opened, Margate is a very different town – and opinions on the turbines have also shifted.

Situated in a prime site overlooking the sea, the Turner Contemporary gallery opened its doors three and a half years ago. Its long-awaited arrival cemented a widely-applauded art-led regeneration of the area that has seen shops, cafes and artists’ workspaces springing up in the neglected Old Town, nearby.

Designer Wayne Hemingway is leading a multi-million pound project to rebuild Dreamland as a heritage theme park, and the world’s press has rediscovered the town’s sandy charms, heaping it with middle-class praise.

But the area’s biggest employer, Pfizer, has largely upped sticks, causing around 2,000 job losses – and the promise that the wind farm itself would create ‘hundreds of new jobs’ has also floated away on the breeze.

Now owned by Swedish energy company Vattenfall, controversy continued to dog Thanet Wind Farm. Because the UK lacks the capacity for building turbines, 80% of the construction budget went to foreign companies and only 21 of the promised local jobs have actually materialised.

In fact, it has been the onshore newcomer – the Turner Contemporary gallery – that has been the axis around which Margate has achieved regeneration.

But just as locals are learning (bumpily) to rub along with the slightly strange arty newcomers, both types of residents have largely warmed to the sometimes ghostly, sometimes stark white turbines that pepper the horizon.

One Margate resident told us: ‘I love it. Every time I look out to sea, I think, “I’m living in the future we all thought we’d get”.’

Perhaps an affinity with the sea itself influences local attitudes to renewable energy.

A Margate-based artist commented: ‘I approve of wind energy, so I’m not complaining – and they are beautiful in themselves. But there’s no no sense of an infinite sea going on forever; they bring you up short.’

Golfers enjoying the delights of the area’s links courses might be expected to be among the most vociferous opponents to the scheme – and indeed they were. But one told us that feelings are softening. She said: ‘They look different colours depending on the weather. At first I thought they spoiled the view – now I’d miss them.’

What do you think about offshore windfarms? Beautiful or blight? We’d love to know your views.

]]>https://revolutionaryarts.wordpress.com/2014/12/24/margate-where-art-and-windfarms-come-together/feed/1P1110628danthompson33P1110293P1110304P1110628Creative Networks in Swale and Medwayhttps://revolutionaryarts.wordpress.com/2014/09/22/creative-networks-in-swale-and-medway/
https://revolutionaryarts.wordpress.com/2014/09/22/creative-networks-in-swale-and-medway/#respondMon, 22 Sep 2014 10:39:54 +0000http://revolutionaryarts.wordpress.com/?p=361‘Everything starts with a conversation’ is the idea that underpins the work of Revolutionary Arts. And a series of 15 events across Sittingbourne, Rochester and Chatham will prove that conversations work.

The events will be hosted by social artists Dan Thompson and Lloyd Davis. They’ve been commissioned by the Recreate project as part of a wider programme which involved opening a pop up in Medway and looking at creating a coworking space in Sittingbourne. Dan and Lloyd will host a range of events, bringing interesting people together to talk about creativity, business and social change, and plug those conversations in to the wider Recreate programme.

A full programme of talks, networking events and workshops will be announced in early October 2014. Watch this space, keep an ear to the ground, and make sure your finger’s on the pulse.

]]>https://revolutionaryarts.wordpress.com/2014/09/22/creative-networks-in-swale-and-medway/feed/0Lloyd Davisdanthompson33Dan ThompsonLloyd DavisFrom the Archives: Worthing Arts Manifestohttps://revolutionaryarts.wordpress.com/2014/09/17/from-the-archives-worthing-arts-manifesto/
https://revolutionaryarts.wordpress.com/2014/09/17/from-the-archives-worthing-arts-manifesto/#respondWed, 17 Sep 2014 08:43:12 +0000http://revolutionaryarts.wordpress.com/?p=354Going back through the Revolutionary Arts archives, we sometimes find a forgotten gem. Here’s something we wrote to place the arts, heritage and creative industries at the heart of Worthing:

A Manifesto for the Arts in Worthing

Written by Dan Thompson

Published by the Revolutionary Arts Group

Introduction

In October 2000, the Revolutionary Arts Group was formed around a manifesto, with which a dozen artist, makers, writers and musicians pledged:

“We are committed to promoting the practice and understanding of the contemporary arts.

This includes the visual arts: painting, printing and photography: performing arts: theatre, dance and performance: and other practices. It includes work in and outside of traditional arts venues.

We believe art to be: A vital part of the personal experience: An important means of individual expression: A tool to build a better person and a better society: Empowering: Forceful: Available to all.”

Nine years later, the Revolutionary Arts Group have consistently shown our commitment to the arts in Worthing while we have developed a national reputation and projects which are now informing the government’s own agenda.

As an act of remembrance of that first manifesto, and to mark our commitment to the local while working wider, we launch this new Manifesto for the Arts in Worthing.

We need to promote the practice of the contemporary arts and creative industries – the thinking, making, doing and sharing of the arts – by enabling creative people access to spaces across the town. This is vital to the economic success of Worthing.

We also need to promote the understanding, helping people to understand not just individual contemporary artworks but the place of the arts and creative industries in Worthing’s history, current economy and future.

To this end:

Artists should immediately be given free, privileged access to the council’s arts spaces, including Worthing Theatres, Field Place, The Museum & Art Gallery and the Town Hall; at every opportunity, these should be spaces for artists to play, explore new ideas, test concepts and create new work. If they are empty, even for one day, give artists the keys without giving them the bill.

Artists should also be encouraged to identify opportunity, and supported in the temporary and meanwhile use of other spaces – empty shops and old offices. The council should pledge its support to the meanwhile use of empty spaces, and should use its strength to navigate the legal backwaters of temporary leases and licences, business rates and insurance.

There should be spaces in parks, gardens and on the beach given to the arts, with the creation of portable stages, contemporary kiosks and mobile market stalls.

The social structure of Worthing arts and creative industries, which will lead to collaborations, fresh ideas and future growth, should be supported; Worthing Borough Council should provide office space and administrative support to Worthing Arts Council.

And in the long term, the council should give more of its buildings and spaces to the support the creative economy.

The Town Hall should be cleared of bureaucrats, who would be better accommodated in contemporary office spaces in Durrington; and the town hall should become a series of linked workspaces, studios, offices for social enterprise, rehearsal rooms, recording studios, galleries, performance spaces and small business units at the heart of a civic cultural quarter including the Assembly Hall, Worthing Library and Worthing Museum & Art Gallery. All these buildings should be given to the citizens, to manage through community trusts.

Similar community trusts should own high street space, which should be devoted to temporary exhibitions, exciting events and changing displays to enhance the town centre shopping experience and support the emergence of new businesses.

In addition, developers should give a percentage of any new build to the creation of workshops, studios and live-work spaces to be owned and managed by community trusts so that rents are kept low, and affordable. This will support creative businesses as they start up, explore new areas or develop work which has a community benefit. This will create vibrant, mixed-use neighbourhoods where people live, work and shop locally.

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https://revolutionaryarts.wordpress.com/2014/09/17/from-the-archives-worthing-arts-manifesto/feed/0P1040245danthompson33She Makes War in Coventryhttps://revolutionaryarts.wordpress.com/2014/08/21/she-makes-war-in-coventry/
https://revolutionaryarts.wordpress.com/2014/08/21/she-makes-war-in-coventry/#respondThu, 21 Aug 2014 16:35:02 +0000http://revolutionaryarts.wordpress.com/2014/08/21/she-makes-war-in-coventry/Ahead of a support slot on The Levellers’ Greatest Hits tour this autumn, gloom-pop solo artist She Makes War is bringing her established independent music night Breakfast With Apollo to The Tin, Coventry on 20th September.

She Makes War is a good friend of Revolutionary Arts and a regular on the office stereo, since collaborating with us on Pop Up People.

A massive Midlands fan after local support slots with Miles Hunt, Erica Nockalls and Stylusboy in 2013, and a recent headline slot at Lobelia’s Lazy Sundays night at Tower Of Song in Birmingham, She Makes War will headline the night with her mesmerising solo show. Performing songs from her first two albums “Disarm” and “Little Battles” on grungey electric guitar, ukulele, atmospheric loops and percussion, she will also be introducing some brand new tunes from her forthcoming crowdfunded album “Direction Of Travel”.

Support comes from local folk star Stylusboy.

Started in London in early 2012 as a reaction against bad promoters, the Breakfast With Apollo gig series seeks to raise the bar for audiences and performers by offering an eclectic night of quality music in great venues, paying the bands through sensible ticket prices.

]]>https://revolutionaryarts.wordpress.com/2014/08/21/she-makes-war-in-coventry/feed/0danthompson33IMG_20140531_082634London Road commission: #chumbrellahttps://revolutionaryarts.wordpress.com/2014/08/18/london-road-commission-chumbrella/
https://revolutionaryarts.wordpress.com/2014/08/18/london-road-commission-chumbrella/#respondMon, 18 Aug 2014 09:24:23 +0000http://revolutionaryarts.wordpress.com/2014/08/18/london-road-commission-chumbrella/Inspired by the act of sharing an umbrella with a stranger, artist Sarah Nadin imagined a place where a distinctive hashtagged umbrella was a sign that the person was willing to share it with a stranger.

#chumbrella is a yellow and white design, the umbrella split in half rather than the more conventional segments, produced in a first edition of 25. As the idea spreads, Sarah will be creating literal pop up social spaces in streets across the country.

As part of the London Road project in Stoke, we’re commissioning artists to produce small works throughout the next year. These artists, commissioned by Revolutionary Arts with the support of Appetite, will complement Dan Thompson’s main work, activating public spaces along the road and marking some of the stories we find. #chumbrella is the first of these mini-commissions.

Who do you admire the most?
My husband for having the courage of his convictions and like Madonna, always changing to stay interesting.

What’s the best piece of advice you received?
Trust your own instincts

Which is your favourite word?
Harrumph!

Describe yourself in three words.
Nihilistic, aloof, selfless

Who should we watch out for in the future?
My daughter Eliza she’s all singing, all dancing, precocious, demanding, intelligent – bound to be trouble.

What keeps you awake at night?
Worrying about the kids future especially with the rise of far right politics.

What is your favourite colour?
Phthalo blue

Describe your perfect day
I’m always happy when I’ve done some jogging with the dog, a bit of painting and charity shopping.

What’s the first record you bought?
Madonna, Borderline

Brush or pen?
Brush.

]]>https://revolutionaryarts.wordpress.com/2014/07/22/338/feed/0P1120782danthompson33P1120782Fleurie Forbes-Martin Q&Ahttps://revolutionaryarts.wordpress.com/2014/07/21/fleurie-forbes-martin-qa/
https://revolutionaryarts.wordpress.com/2014/07/21/fleurie-forbes-martin-qa/#respondMon, 21 Jul 2014 18:13:41 +0000http://revolutionaryarts.wordpress.com/?p=331Fleurie Forbes-Martin is a digital storyteller for Folk, a creative agency based in Bournemouth, and she recently asked Revolutionary Arts founder Dan Thompson to talk at an event which aimed to inspire their clients. We’ve turned the tables, as we ask her the questions.

Who do you admire the most?

My boss, who I also consider to be somewhat of a personal leader.

What’s the best piece of advice you received?

Get some sleep.

Which is your favourite word?

Entrepreneur.

Reasons to be cheerful?

The sunny sky. Even when it’s cloudy, take happiness from the knowledge that the sun is still up there behind the stormy weather.

The musical movement started in the early 1990s, and this stage show brought together three people who were there; Dodgy’s drummer Mathew Priest, Paul Weller bassist and former Blow Up DJ Andy Lewis, and artist, former roadie and ex-Blow Up tour DJ Dan Thompson.

Around a box of 7″ singles, played as they fitted the unrehearsed conversation, they discussed the real roots of Britpop in the early 90s music scene, what it felt like to be part of it, and whether Britpop had left a meaningful legacy in a renewed sense of Britishness that has driven creativity since then. Intimate, entertaining and inspiring.

Performed just once at Brighton’s rock ‘n’ roll boutique b&b Hotel Peliroco, The Britpop Show might be revived in the future – maybe to mark the thirtieth anniversary?

]]>https://revolutionaryarts.wordpress.com/2014/07/02/the-britpop-show/feed/0P1120592danthompson33P1120592The Margate Big Buskhttps://revolutionaryarts.wordpress.com/2014/06/26/the-margate-big-busk/
https://revolutionaryarts.wordpress.com/2014/06/26/the-margate-big-busk/#respondThu, 26 Jun 2014 10:08:38 +0000http://revolutionaryarts.wordpress.com/?p=314A Facebook thread, a coffee with Keith from the Black Cat Club – and a new project. The Margate Big Busk takes place on 6th September, from 11am-4pm.

The Margate Big Busk is a simple idea, a one-day event bringing buskers, street performers, poets and performance artists to the town. Participating venues will organise their own buskers for the day, and visitors will be able to wander from one place to the next to enjoy the surprises street entertainment brings – sometimes funny, sometimes moving, sometimes loud, sometimes quiet. There are more details for people who want to get involved here. Venues will see new visitors, and the acts will encourage people to linger a little longer than they might otherwise – so The Margate Big Busk supports local independent traders in a simple way.

The Margate Big Busk is organised by Revolutionary Arts, who will list all events on a Facebook page, a Twitter hashtag and a map to be distributed through venues taking part.

The Margate Big Busk was inspired by the Southsea Sunday event. This was made during a workshop which Revolutionary Arts founder Dan Thompson ran in Southsea.

]]>https://revolutionaryarts.wordpress.com/2014/06/26/the-margate-big-busk/feed/0Big Buskdanthompson33Big Busk 2Face Up!https://revolutionaryarts.wordpress.com/2014/06/16/face-up/
https://revolutionaryarts.wordpress.com/2014/06/16/face-up/#respondMon, 16 Jun 2014 13:41:43 +0000http://revolutionaryarts.wordpress.com/?p=29850 years ago on Margate Sands, the mods and rockers clashed. The events were immortalised in the film Quadrophenia, which moved them to Brighton.

To celebrate the anniversary, the Revolutionary Arts decks were dusted off and DJs Happiness Dan, Andy Lewis and Stockie played a mixed selection of Mod tunes, classic soul, psych and Northern Soul on the day that marked the 50th anniversary, from 1964 to 2014. The event happened at the Black Cat Club, facing Margate main sands. It was sponsored by Pretty Green.